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Rashida Tlaib: Impeach Trump Now

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Trump’s years in office are years we cannot get back.

Now is the time for impeachment.

People in D.C. ask: What would it mean for our 2020 strategy? But I ask what it means for the people I grew up with, the residents of my district, and what it means for all of us, as Americans, to have Donald Trump remain our president.

Trump’s years in office are years we cannot get back. But more dangerous than the loss of time is allowing Trump’s precedents to take root.

In 2017, Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, an Arizona sheriff who was ordered by a federal court to stop racially profiling and was convicted of criminal contempt when he refused. Arpaio, by targeting Latinx people, was violating both the U.S. Constitution and our civil rights. Trump’s pardon of Arpaio may not get as much attention as Russian influence, or Trump’s apparent obstruction of justice in the Mueller investigation. But to me, as a woman of color, it is a clear abuse of power for the U.S. president to pardon a sheriff who targeted people for arrest because of their ethnicity. In other words, that act alone warrants its own congressional hearing.

It’s not just the racist words Trump uses—which are very painful and do incite violence— but his racist actions, which undermine our Constitution.

It’s bad enough that Trump’s Muslim ban dehumanizes people based on their religion and nationality, but constitutional scholars have also argued the Muslim ban violates the First Amendment’s separation of church and state. Among countless examples of Trump’s racism and xenophobia, he has even turned his ire against Americans: In February, a judge ruled that Trump’s withholding of disability benefits from Puerto Ricans was unconstitutional, calling it “citizenship apartheid.” Most recently, to push through his racist border wall, Trump declared an unconstitutional state of emergency.

Add to this precedent what’s happening to immigrants. As a child, I never could have imagined that when I was 42, my country would be caging children at its border.

Trump is setting another disturbing precedent by refusing to divest from his businesses—on top of his refusal to even disclose what his business interests are. Having a sitting president, who knows his position is temporary, with a stake in more than 500 businesses is a recipe for corruption. Today, both at home and around the world, there is a sense that if you want to do business with the United States of America, you’ve got to spend money with the Trump Organization. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) documented more than 1,400 interactions in 2017 and 2018 that represented conflicts of interest for Trump, including his 281 visits to properties he profits from. Twelve foreign governments made payments to Trump—each of which, according to CREW, “is likely a violation of the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause,” which bans presidents from receiving gifts from foreign countries.

The emoluments clause is in the Constitution for a reason: We, as Americans, need to know that the president acts in our best interests, not his own self-interest. When Trump refused to censure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, was he doing so on our behalf or because the Saudi government had spent $270,000 at a Trump hotel?

The president of the United States and his associates are implicated in multiple crimes to get him elected. Trump’s close friend, National Enquirer owner David Pecker, and Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, made payments to two women to purposefully influence an election—criminal felonies, both directed by Trump himself. One could write a blockbuster thriller about all the transgressions and it still wouldn’t be more terrifying than the threats to our bedrock democratic principles.

Such actions are morally unacceptable. And it is irresponsible for members of Congress to ignore these transgressions because of their political calculations or worries about 2020.

The people I represent in the 13th Congressional District are not talking about “the Russians.” They are not talking about the Mueller investigation. Some of them don’t even know who Mueller is or what the investigation is about. Rather, they ask, “How come Trump hasn’t shown his tax returns?” One resident of my district described Trump as “a crooked CEO in the White House, running his businesses from the Oval Office.” That, to me, is what scares the American people, and rightfully so.

This corruption in our democracy creates anxiety. That’s why people like me got elected. People want someone who will represent them fearlessly and unapologetically. They want someone to say, “That’s wrong. That’s illegal. And we need to fix it right away.”

Our situation as a nation is urgent. It is time for a call for impeachment to set the tone. We have enough information to move forward.

We cannot permit Donald Trump to commit crimes from the Oval Office or violate our Constitution in broad daylight and get away with it. Such actions are criminal.

When Trump became president, he started working for us. He works for the people.

The issues discussed have been there for many years and no one wants to do anything about it. The truth is that the DNC had a winner in Sanders and their power system was told that destroy that option because the powers brokers were afraid of a Trump vs Sanders election. The people have lose control of both parties because of money dumped by outside self interested power teams. We look in the mirror and the image should be us, but all we see is trump because with our sugar removed from our face we see us for what we really are. We hop in bed with the Saudi and mess with countries we do not like. That sugar on our face comes from that big power system and their big fear is that both parties will start working together, that is the only way to make it. If that is not done both parties will both fail together.

Posted by 6384601 on 2019-03-16 11:28:13

The problem is that this has been going on for many years, not with Trump but going back beyond B Clinton. Both parties should be mad due to the fact the same power system controls both. Sanders should have run instead of H Clinton and even though the DNC power system understood that fact they destroyed that option. A Trump vs Sanders election faceoff would placed a blade in the heart of the power system. The parties have to work together because if not they will both fall together and that they will. Look at our games in Central America and our bed hopping with Saudi Arabia and the power system in Israel. The people have lost the power to state their views, but the paid money brokers are bed partners with both parties and who cares. We all look in the mirror but instead of our image we all see Trump and we wonder why. If we take off that sugar coating we are all trump. That power system has dumped us in lots of gar and we like it.

Posted by 6384601 on 2019-03-16 11:14:55

Trump continues the American Tradition of the manifest destiny and rise of white nationalism If he is not impeached or defeated, the deterrent use of nuclear weapons may be the horrible option to end "white nationalism".To save the world the must be the de-nationalization of "white supremacy"

Posted by 12213 on 2019-03-16 08:52:52

Lots of 'trolling' going on here...all quite personal. Be that as it may...Rashida T is right on. The problem is that Trump is an ugly reflection of the complete cultural dysfunction of this country, including its misguided citizenry. The genius' who talk of 'If you don't want him there, vote him out!'...don't seem to have enough sense to understand that the corruption, and racism in this country, got him there in the first place. We should be dealing with the vote suppression and demagoguery exhibited in our politics...period. But I guess the candidate is only as good as his/her constituents. She may be fueled by strong personal feelings, but I love her belief in what we all should be thinking. How the #%*& did this guy become president?

Posted by John Dom on 2019-03-16 00:35:41

More posts like this & ITT will do theRottingStone trick & cancel its comment-section(Mon18Feb). Better to quiet the lib-morons if that is what it takes to silence the erstwhile right.

Then there is MuthaJonez ::: who complained mightily about bake-shops who reserved the right to choose their own customers - who contradictorily reserves the right to excrete on theConstitution & ban right-side voices.

Posted by ernie_oertle on 2019-03-15 16:39:34

`Stolen-Valor' Blumenthal (D-CT) Blames Trump For New Zealand Massacre.Trump! is the new “RAYZIZT!”

Posted by ernie_oertle on 2019-03-15 16:27:24

"TRAITOR!!!!!"

Posted by Sarah Lafreniere on 2019-03-15 00:22:56

basically you want to impeach for a bunch of dumb reasons that you don't like. That makes you either a crybaby or stupid. Pick one.

Posted by matt on 2019-03-14 12:18:54

The only one who should be impeached is YOU...and your fellow goat-humper Omar.

Impeached and deported back to the turd world sh*tholes you belong in

Posted by Terrence Jeffrey Johnson on 2019-03-14 12:11:10

Shocking how dumb this person is.

Posted by Resistance NPC on 2019-03-14 11:38:06

Palestinians have less IQ then the "People of Walmart". Its why noone wants them in their country.

I will give this pedophile worshipping , goat fu ker credit...she didnt call America a "democracy" this time showing her complete ignorance.

Posted by DemocratsHaveLowIQs on 2019-03-14 11:21:24

That is not enough reasons. If you don't like somebody then don't vote for them. But you must respect the decisions of your fellow citizens, but only if you want to be regarded by your countrymen as an American and not as an outside troublemaker.

Posted by Robert Browning on 2019-03-14 04:06:30

Tlaib is an ass.

there can not and should not be any impeachment without the electorate's active urging of it